Tália

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Tália has severe failure to thrive. She is very small and although she is nearly 7, most people think she is only 3 years old. Tália loves to play wit her friends but she cannot speak, despite understanding two languages. Tália has weak muscle tone, she started walking at 4½ years old. She cannot climb stairs and walking around a supermarket is like running a marathon and exhausts her. After a long day, her muscles ache. Her fine motor skills are weak - she cannot dress herself.

When Tália gets tired, she loses basic abilities such as her ability to chew, her ability to walk and her ability to emit sounds. She finds it hard to regulate her temperature - on hot days she goes floppy and on cold days she goes purple. Simple actions zap her energy.

Tália is lucky, many of her friends with mito cannot walk, have seizures, need a respirator to survive and are in a lot of pain. Some of her friends spend more time in hospital than at home.